Rural electric co-ops stress broadband, permitting

WASHINGTON, April 26, 2017 – The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association wants to make sure congressional lawmakers and the White House know that infrastructure isn’t just roads and bridges. It also includes broadband.
In a conference call with reporters Tuesday, NRECA CEO Jim Matheson and co-op reps from Tennessee, Missouri and Virginia emphasized the need for any infrastructure package to include funding to expand access to high-speed internet in rural areas.
“Broadband is really the lifeblood of the economy in the 21st century,” said Matheson, who was recently named to a Federal Communications Commission Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. But he added, “ …